Maddy In JumpStart
by YuriCore
Summary: Maddy is a timid girl who comes to JumpStart in a ship when she is three years old. Without her family, Maddy feels lonely and sad. How can she get used to living in such a strange place so far away from home? The situation doesn't seem so hopeless for the other kids. (Note: Rating may go up.)
1. Welcome To JumpStart

Maddy StarMist lived in JumpStart, an online game where every day was interesting. There was lots to do, like going to the movies or concerts. Even school was fun.

Well, it kinda had to be. That was the point. JumpStart was supposed to be a place for learning. The mayor, who everyone called Frankie (as he didn't seem to have a last name) established the town so that kids would have their own special place to learn. In fact, there weren't any adults in JumpStart.

Maddy's parents had lived in a different town, in a faraway land called 'The United States'. When she was born, her parents decided they wanted her to get a good education, so they decided that once she was three years old they would send her off to live in JumpStart. Three years old was the official age for children to go to JumpStart, as at this age they were ready to learn their letters and numbers in StoryLand, a part of JumpStart meant for Newbies, the little kids who had just arrived on the ships from other towns.

Arriving at JumpStart was Maddy's earliest memory. It was a bit dark when the ship stopped at Coney Island, JumpStart. Three-year-olds from all over the world looked over the ship's railings. Among them was little Maddy, looking a bit nervous, and clutching the handle of a tiny rolling suitcase. A man wearing a business suit walked onto the ship. He was carrying a clipboard.

Maddy was surprised when the man turned to look at her.

"What's your name?" he said.

"I'm Maddy," Maddy said in a tiny voice. Then it occurred to her that she should say her last name too. "Maddy Miller."

"Then you'll be Maddy StarMist," the man said, randomly choosing a middle and last name combination from the list on his clipboard.

"Maddy StarMist?" Maddy said, confused.

"It's your new name," the man said. "Off with you now." He gestured towards the ramp that led to the dock. Maddy quickly nodded, then walked down the ramp, her suitcase rolling behind her.

When Maddy stepped into JumpStart, she felt a strange sensation. It made her shudder. She sat down on a wooden box and soon saw her friend Grace run happily over to her. Maddy didn't understand how Grace could be so happy when they were so far away from their families.

"Hi Maddy!" said Grace. "I got the name Grace LuckyDragon! Aren't the names here weird?" Maddy nodded. "Hey, did you feel that weird thing when we got here?" Maddy nodded again. "I wonder what it was!"

"You mean Jumpification?" a voice said. Maddy and Grace looked up and saw a woman wearing a formal blue dress. "That's the process that turns Newbies into Jumpees."

"Jumpees?" said Maddy.

"Yup," said the woman. "Jumpees, unlike humans, don't need life necessities like food and water. They also have some special abilities, like being able to jump very high." Upon hearing this, Grace began to jump up and down.

"No food and water?" said Maddy, a bit upset.

The woman laughed. "You can eat if you choose; it's simply not necessary anymore. You will never get hungry, or thirsty."

"Can I tell my parents?" Maddy said suddenly.

The woman suddenly looked sympathetic. "Oh sweetie, surely you know communication with people outside of JumpStart is forbidden." She sighed, putting a hand on her chin. "I see there's a lot to go over. But don't worry; it'll all be covered in the tutorial. First, do you want to see your neighborhood?" Maddy and Grace nodded. Maddy stood up and the three of them left Coney Island. Maddy sadly gave the ship one last glance over her shoulder.

They walked down many sidewalks and across many streets on the way. They passed a zoo, a sushi restaurant, a picnic area, some place called the 'Enchanted Sanctuary', and many other places before reaching the neighborhood.

"Well, welcome to your neighborhood," the woman said. "There's your houses right there." She pointed at two identical houses side by side.

"We're neighbors!?" said Grace. "That's so cool!"

"We live all alone?" said Maddy.

"It's one Jumpee per house," said the woman. "Of course, you can still invite your friends over."

"Let's check out your house, Maddy!" said Grace. She grabbed Maddy's hand and pulled her over to the house in front of them, the one that had a sign which read, "Maddy StarMist's House". Grace tried the door, but it wouldn't open.

"It's stuck!" Grace cried out.

The woman burst into laughter. "It's locked, silly. Maddy, open the door."

Maddy looked confused. "But you said it was locked."

"It's your house, so you can open it. Just turn the doorknob."

Maddy did, and the door opened.

"Oh, only the owner of the house can open the door!" said Grace in realization.

"Yup," said the woman, nodding.

Maddy walked into her new house. It was very plain, with beige walls and matching carpet. Only one room too, though it was a quite large room. There was a plain bed and a plain dresser and a plain nightstand and a plain TV. Maddy put her suitcase down on the bed and started unpacking, shoving stuff into dresser drawers and her closet. She thought she was done, but then she realized there was one more thing in her suitcase. She pulled it out. It was a picture of her mom, dad, and big sister. When it occurred to her she wouldn't see them again until she was an adult, she started crying. Maddy rubbed the tears from her eyes and put the picture on her dresser. Then she heard Grace's voice from outside the house. "Hey Maddy, we're gonna go check out my house now! See ya!"

"Kay," Maddy said, not looking. She didn't want Grace to see her cry. She heard her best friend talking with the woman as they walked away. Maddy mumbled to herself, "I can't believe this is JumpStart," as she flopped down on her bed and sighed.


	2. First Full Day

Maddy changed into her pajamas and went to bed, not even bothering to brush her teeth. That night, she had a dream... or rather, a memory...

_Maddy was sitting lazily on the swing in her backyard, while her parents talked about Jumpstart. They'd been speaking of it for some time, and Maddy didn't really understand much about it except that she would have to go all alone._

_"Three years is a very young age for someone to travel so far on their own..." said Maddy's mother, apprehensive. "She might get lost, or scared..."_

_"She'll be fine!" said Maddy's father. "And she won't be all alone. Grace is going too. And she's such a cheerful little girl! She'll take good care of Maddy for us." Maddy's father looked to his gloomy daughter, smiling warmly. "You want to go to Jumpstart, don't you, Maddy? So that you can be with Grace?"_

_Maddy gave a tiny nod. "Sure," she said quietly._

_Maddy's father turned back to his wife. "See?"_

_Maddy's mother sighed. "I just worry about her is all. She's so shy and easily frightened. And I want to be able to watch her grow up, which I can't do if she's not with me."_

_"You'll be proud of her," said Maddy's father. "When she comes back, she'll be eighteen. She'll have accomplished all levels of school, something that takes much longer here. Their education is the best!"_

_Maddy's mother frowned. "Well... alright. I guess we should do what's best for our daughter."_

_"Exactly what I'm saying," said Maddy's father._

_Maddy's mother looked very sad. Maddy slowly got off the swing and walked over to her._

_"Don't be sad, Mommy," said Maddy. "When I can write, I'll write you letters all the time."_

_Maddy's mother only looked sadder. She turned away and mumbled, "Sure you will..."_

_The next month, Maddy's parents drove her to where the next ship to Jumpstart was docked. Maddy sat solemnly in her car seat, clutching her suitcase. When the car stopped, Maddy pushed her door open, and Maddy's parents unbuckled her from her car seat and helped her out. Then the family walked up to the ship. They stopped there, and Maddy's father motioned for Maddy to walk up the ramp. Maddy took a deep breath and pulled her suitcase up the ramp. When she was half way up, she sadly looked back at her parents, who just gave her gentle smiles. Maddy swallowed and continued walking._

_When Maddy got onto the ship, she sat down on a seat by the railing and looked at her parents, who seemed tiny from the distance. The ship started to move, and Maddy cried as she waved goodbye to her parents._

_"Mommy... Daddy..." she said, tears rolling down her cheeks._

Maddy woke from her dream to the sound of birds chirping outside her window. She slowly sat up and stretched, then rubbed her eyes tiredly. She turned and put her feet on the ground, slipping quietly out of bed.

Maddy opened her closet and pulled out a pale pink overall dress with a white t-shirt underneath. After changing into that, she put on white socks and Mary Janes. Then she brushed her hair a little and walked outside. She was surprised to see Grace playing ball with a group of other Newbies.

"Grace?" Maddy said.

Grace stopped playing to run over to Maddy. "Hi Maddy!" said Grace. "I found out some more stuff this morning. We start school tomorrow!"

Maddy was silent for a moment. "School?" she said.

"Yes!" Grace said. "Our first ever day of school is tomorrow! That's what we came here for, silly!" She laughed, pulling out a piece of paper from her pocket. She unfolded it and said, "This paper says what Lands we'll be in each year."

"Lands?" said Maddy.

"Yeah!" said Grace. "If only I could read I could tell you all of them! But I do remember that the first one is StoryLand. JumpStart has four Lands. We're gonna learn more about it in the tutorial."

"I see," said Maddy. "And that's today?"

"Yeah," said Grace. "At eleven o'clock. Do you wanna get some breakfast?"

"Breakfast?" said Maddy. She felt her stomach growl, and suddenly realized that she was hungry. "Where?"

"C'mon," said Grace, taking Maddy's hand.

Grace led Maddy out of the neighborhood, past the Enchanted Sanctuary, and across the bridge to New York, where there was a small coffee shop. The girls walked inside and up to the counter, where a few teenage Jumpees were working.

"Hello, how may I help you today?" said one of the girls working there.

"I want a donut and a cinnamon roll," said Grace. Maddy couldn't help but notice Grace didn't have very good manners. Grace nudged Maddy, as a sign for her to order.

"Oh, um, I'll take a muffin... please," Maddy said, quickly pointing to a chocolate chip muffin in the display case.

The employee nodded. She pulled out the foods the girls had requested and put them in a paper bag, which she handed to Grace. Grace smiled and ran over to a table. She and Maddy sat down and began to eat their breakfast.

"It's kinda weird to not see any adults," Maddy commented.

Grace nodded. "Yeah, since everyone leaves JumpStart at eighteen."

"So... we don't have school anymore after we leave?" said Maddy.

Grace nodded. "Yup. In fact, we get to graduate when we're only twelve. After that we get jobs."

"You know a lot about this, don't you?" said Maddy.

Grace smiled proudly. "Maybe. Not nearly everything though. We're going to learn a whole lot more in the tutorial."

"Right," said Maddy. "So... are there any more places to eat here?"

Grace nodded. "There's a sushi restaurant across the street. And at Poseidon's Hangout there's a cafe, but it has pretty much all the same foods they sell here. There's also a cafeteria in each of the Lands. See, here's a map." Grace took out a map and put it on the table.

Maddy looked at it. "This place is huge," she said.

"You think?" said Grace.

"Well, for a school," said Maddy. Her eyes wandered across the map, and she wished she could read the names of the places.

_I'm sure they'll teach us how to read in StoryLand, _Maddy thought.


	3. Tutorial

After breakfast, Maddy and Grace heard an intercom click on for an announcement.

"Attention all Newbies," the voice over the speaker said. "It is time to watch the tutorial. Please report to the movie theater in Coney Island ASAP. Thank you for your cooperation." The intercom clicked off.

"Ooh, the tutorial!" said Grace. "Let's go, Maddy!" Grace jumped out of her seat and ran to the door, then turned around to wave Maddy over. Maddy threw away their trash and folded up the map to put in her pocket. Then she ran over to Grace, who was jumping up and down with excitement.

The two girls left the coffee shop and walked down the sidewalk to Coney Island, where they spotted the movie theater and walked inside. They found seats side-by-side and sat down. A worker who was passing around popcorn gave a big bucket of it to Grace, who shared it with Maddy. Movie previews played for a while, and then the tutorial video began.

"Hello new Jumpees," said Frankie, after he appeared on the screen. "And welcome to JumpStart. This is where you will be spending your childhood and adolescence. It's a very welcoming community, and we all look forward to teaching you and becoming your friends." Frankie walked over to the other JumpStart officials, C.J., Hops, Pierre, Kisha, Eleanor, and Botley, who all waved to the fourth wall. "In this video, you will learn about your education to come, as well as all of the fun activities there are to participate in. Well, let's get started!"

The scene faded out, and Frankie appeared in StoryLand. He was standing in The Neighborhood there, in front of the Dress-Up Tent and The Movie House.

"This is StoryLand," said Frankie. "Here you will attend school until you are five years old. You will learn colors, numbers, shapes, and letters. You will also learn important things like developing a personal style, being creative, matching things, memorizing patterns, taking care of animals, and becoming a good leader."

Then Frankie appeared in AdventureLand, in front of the water near the submarine. "This is AdventureLand. Here you will attend school until you are seven years old. You will learn some of your most important lessons here, such as dedication, effort, and bravery. You will also learn language and math skills."

After that, Frankie appeared in The Caverns of MarineLand. "This is MarineLand. Here you will attend school until you are eight years old, meaning you will only be here for one year. You will learn grammar and math lessons, and develop good problem-solving skills. When you leave this Land, you will receive an extra-special reward."

Then, Frankie appeared in FutureLand, in front of the time machine. "This is FutureLand. Here you will attend school until you are twelve years old, so for a rather long time. You will even get the opportunity to travel back and forward in time! You will learn language arts, math, science, and geography."

Frankie appeared in a golden room with columns. "And _this_ is the JumpStart Hall of Fame. This is where the graduation ceremony is held. You graduate from school when you are twelve, after completing FutureLand. After graduating, you will never have to attend school again. You will spend your teenage years here, working a job. There are many places in JumpStart to get jobs. But you'll learn more about that later. Now I will pass it to Kisha."

Kisha appeared on the screen, standing in Poseidon's Hangout. "Hi everybody," she said. "I'm going to tell you about all the fun things there are to do in JumpStart when you're not in school. One of my favorite places is Poseidon's Hangout. There are concerts here! There's also dance contests. There are many many games to play, like Dune Buggy Racing and Shipwreck Lagoon, and many activities, such as super slides, fun zones, roller coasters, and scavenger hunts. Have fun watching movies here at the movie theater, customizing your house and neighborhood, and doing much more. The fun is endless! Now, I will pass it to C.J."

Maddy looked over at Grace, and saw that she was sound asleep. _Is she really bored or what?_ Maddy thought. She smiled gently at her friend, then turned her head back to the screen as C.J. talked about all the shops in JumpStart.

After the tutorial, all the Newbies left the movie theater and began walking in their own directions. Grace was hyper again. She talked about all the things she wanted to do in JumpStart, hopping up and down, with Maddy nodding every once and a while.

"We should go check out a roller coaster," said Grace. "I didn't think there would be any of those here, did you? Let's go find one!"

"Um, okay," said Maddy, even though she was terribly afraid of roller coasters.

"Okay, let's ask someone where to find one!" said Grace. She looked around and around, and spotted a guy who looked a few years older than them. "Let's ask him!" Grace rushed over before Maddy could even think.

"Hey, Mister, do you know where the nearest roller coaster is?" Grace asked the boy.

The boy nodded, and pointed at it.

"Oh, wow, that's not far!" said Grace. She grabbed Maddy's wrist and pulled her friend towards the roller coaster. On the way there, they passed a bumper car game and a mini arcade. Then Maddy and Grace got on the roller coaster, and Maddy found herself breathing very unsteadily.

"G-Grace, I'm really n-nervous," Maddy stuttered, her hands shaking.

"It's not scary, it's fun!" said Grace. Then, the roller coaster started, and off they went.

"Woo-hoo!" said Grace, putting her hands in the air.

"Agh!" said Maddy, closing her eyes. The roller coaster shook side to side, going round and round and round. Maddy's heart pounded with fear.

When the ride ended, Grace cheerfully hopped off of the ride, her sneakers hitting the boardwalk with a satisfied tap. She spun around to look at Maddy and smiled. "Wasn't that so much fun?" She giggled and skipped happily in a circle.

_My idea of fun is nothing like this,_ thought Maddy, still shaking.


	4. Beginning School

**Yeah, sorry it's been so long since I've updated. School takes up a lot of time...**

**Considering the many years this story will take place over, there should be a lot of character development, in both Maddy and Grace. This will become obvious, at some point.**

The next day, Maddy woke up feeling apprehensive. She put on a panda bear t-shirt and a matching skirt, then put on her sandals and brushed her hair.

"This is my first day of school," Maddy said to herself, looking in the mirror. "I wonder whom I'll meet. Whether I'll make friends."

A knock was heard at the door, and Maddy went to open it. It was Grace, all ready for school, with her backpack on.

"C'mon, Maddy!" said Grace. "Aren't you excited!? Today's our first day of school!" Maddy just nodded slowly.

"Where shall we eat breakfast?" Grace said, as the girls walked down the sidewalk.

"Um... how about we go to the cafe at Poseidon's Hangout?" Maddy suggested. "The one you mentioned yesterday."

"Oh, yes!" said Grace, clapping her hands together. "Let's go!" She took Maddy's hand and pulled the poor girl roughly down the street and all the way across MainStreet, through Windy Hollows, and to Poseidon's Hangout. The two of them entered a large building with a red carpet leading up to the door.

Maddy was surprised with how many people were there this early in the morning. Most of them were much older than them, too. Maddy wondered if they were still in school.

Maddy and Grace sat down at the cafe. Maddy was bothered by the loud music there.

"Gimme a donut," Grace said impolitely to the employee in front of them on the opposite side of the counter. The employee looked annoyed, and Maddy couldn't blame her as she leaned over and pulled a donut from the display case.

"And you?" said the worker to Maddy.

"Muffin," said Maddy. "Please."

The employee pulled a muffin from the display case and gave it to Maddy. Maddy began eating it, and Grace was already eating her donut.

"Hey, what are two little Newbies doing here?" a voice said from behind the girls. Maddy and Grace turned around. There was a boy standing behind them, and he looked like he'd graduated years ago.

"Donuts!" said Grace, with her mouth full.

"Breakfast," said Maddy calmly.

The boy laughed. "This place is for big kids."

"I am mentally much older than I am physically," said Maddy, irritated.

The boy looked confused and a bit stunned. He turned to Grace, who was licking her fingers having finished her donut. Then he turned back to Maddy, who was giving him a narrow-eyed stare. Then he turned and walked away, mumbling something to himself.

"Wow, Maddy!" said Grace. "You were really something! I've never seen you stand up to someone like that!" Maddy shrugged, bored. "C'mon, we should get going to school now." Maddy nodded and slid off her seat.

Eventually, the girls arrived in StoryLand. A crowd of three-year-old Newbies were gathered in a circle on the ground with their legs crossed, Frankie in the middle. Maddy and Grace walked over to the group and joined the other children on the ground.

"Good morning, Jumpees!" said Frankie.

"Good morning, Frankie!" said the children.

"Today, we're going to learn many things about StoryLand," Frankie began. "First, let's do something fun! Paint pictures! C'mon, everyone!" All the children began to get up and follow Frankie. Grace looked excited, and Maddy was just whatever. The group reached their destination and began to spread out on the ground to paint. Many lied on their stomachs to get comfortable. Frankie gave the children paper and paint and paintbrushes and sat down to watch them work.

Once all the children finished their paintings, Frankie asked them to take turns sharing their paintings with the class.

"Ooh, I wanna go first!" said Grace, waving her arm in the air.

Frankie smiled, glad to see Grace's healthy enthusiasm. "Okay, Grace."

Grace stood up in front of her class and held her painting proudly in front of her so that the other children could see it.

"This is a flower," said Grace. "It's a daisy. These are the petals." Grace pointed to parts of the painting. "This is the stem."

"Do you like flowers?" said Frankie.

"Certainly!" said Grace. "They're beautiful!"

"I'm glad you think so," said Frankie, smiling. "Later on in StoryLand you will get to plant your own. Any kind you like." Grace did a little happy dance and took her seat again.

"Maddy? Would you like to go next?" said Frankie, looking at the small, shy girl.

Without saying anything, Maddy walked up to the front of the group and held up her picture.

"It's a house," said Maddy.

"Very nice," said Frankie. "Is that green part the roof?"

"Yes," said Maddy. A girl in the class raised her hand, and Frankie called on her.

"I've never seen a house with a green roof," the girl said.

"Well," said Maddy, "the people who used to own the house were strange people who thought a green roof would be attractive. The people who live there now are too lazy to change the color."

The children seemed to find Maddy's explanation reasonable. No one said anything else about her painting.

"Okay then," said Frankie, after a brief silence. "How about we go to the library now?" It was as if he'd somehow forgotten the other children still needed to share their paintings. But no one said anything about it. They just followed Frankie to the library.

Grace walked beside Maddy. "You're strange," she said. "Aren't you?"

Maddy shrugged. "I suppose. Perhaps."

"That's fine with me," said Grace. "I hope you'll be able to make friends."

Maddy was beginning to wonder whether she even wanted friends. The other children seemed uninteresting to her. She looked at Grace, who was staring at her, probably waiting for some sort of response.

Finally, Maddy said, "I don't need any friends besides you. You're the only friend I really need."

Grace slowly began to smile. She took Maddy's hand. "And we'll be best friends forever." Maddy affectionately gave Grace's hand a little squeeze, and the two ran to catch up with their classmates.

**Can't say when I'll be able to update again, with all this schoolwork. Anyway, in case you can't tell already, this story will focus more on the characters than on a single plot. Maddy is going to be an interesting character to write, considering how I have her future planned out and what kind of a person she is. She will become even more different from Grace than she is now. That will likely be the most important aspect of this story; the way Maddy changes.**

**Anyway, perhaps I'm revealing too much. See ya~!**


	5. Year One

The more Maddy attended school, the more she disliked it. The class learned to read, which Maddy was not very good at and found frustrating, and learned numbers, which were easier but still not fun to learn about. The other students, Grace included, seemed to enjoy school.

"Frankie, what is this word?" said Grace, pointing to a word in her storybook.

Frankie leaned over the page. "It says, 'thoughtful'."

"Why's there a G in it?" said Grace, looking at Frankie with curious eyes.

"The G is silent. You can't hear it in the word."

"Then why is it there, if it doesn't even make a sound?"

"Not all letters always make sounds. We can't exclude letters just because they seem unneeded."

Maddy frowned, staring at the page in her book. She wasn't reading it, just pretending to. She thought about herself as a letter. She certainly seemed unneeded, but perhaps she did have a purpose in attending school with the other children. Maybe...

Frankie was suddenly behind her, and Maddy jumped. She gulped nervously.

"What are you reading, Maddy?" said Frankie in his usual friendly tone.

"Um... Little Red Riding Hood."

"And what is it about?"

"Uh..." Maddy stared at the page a few moments. "It's... about... Oh, I don't know. I can't read it."

Frankie sat down in the seat beside Maddy. "It's about a girl who is delivering cookies to her grandmother when she is stopped by a wolf in the woods. The wolf seems suspicious, and he in fact wants to eat the girl's grandmother. The girl hurries on her way, but the wolf takes a shortcut and gets to the grandmother's house first."

Maddy was listening intently, curious as to what might happen next, and was surprised when Frankie stopped talking.

"Well, what happened?" she asked.

"I won't spoil the ending. Read it yourself and find out," said Frankie.

Maddy got upset again. "But I can't read."

"Sure you can. You're just not trying, Maddy."

"I'm hopeless," said Maddy.

"No, I don't think you are. Perhaps you just learn differently."

Maddy looked back at her book and turned the pages until she got to the part where the wolf was in the grandmother's house. "The pictures make this easier to follow along with."

"Yes, they do," said Frankie. He gave Maddy a comforting smile. "You'll catch up with the other students someday. Someday soon, maybe even."

Maddy frowned, not sure whether to believe him.

Maddy fell further and further behind her class. The other students were reading nearly fluently, and Maddy continued to review her letters. She felt that she was working harder than any of the others, but was getting nowhere. Why was it so much harder for her?

When the other students rode a fire truck at the disaster awareness assembly, Maddy sat on the side of the road crying and covering her ears due to the loud noise. When the students played with animals, Maddy cried because she was afraid of the dogs. When the students went to the beach, Maddy built an impressive sandcastle while the other students played in the water. When the students rode a canoe, Maddy covered her eyes because she was afraid water might splash into them. When the students played dress-up, most girls wore sparkly dresses and high heels while Maddy spent the entire time trying to tie her shoes. When the students used computers, most tried to type stories, while Maddy examined the computer trying to figure out how it worked.

At the end of year one in StoryLand, the students crammed in front of the class lists, hoping that they had class with their friends. Maddy heard some students cheering and others whining about what class they were in, and she became slightly nervous.

"C'mon, Maddy! Don't you want to know if we're in the same class?" said Grace enthusiastically. She grabbed Maddy's wrist and yanked her into the crowd of children. Maddy felt her stomach churn, and she had a terrible feeling that something bad may happen.

The two reached the front of the group, and both frantically searched for their names. Grace found hers quite quickly.

"Yes, I'm in Frankie's class again!" she said, pumping her fist in the air. "Do you see your name, Maddy?"

"No..." said Maddy. "I... I don't think I'm on here..."

"Of course you are!" said Grace. "They have to assign you to a class!"

"But I don't think I'm on here, Grace..." said Maddy, terribly apprehensive.

"Hm... I don't see you either..." said Grace. "That's weird... Must be a mistake. Ask Frankie. He's over there." Grace pointed toward him.

Maddy nodded weakly, and she felt her knees shaking. She stumbled over to her former teacher and stood in front of him.

"Oh, Maddy," said Frankie. "Um, look... I need to talk to you for a sec. Privately."

Maddy felt much worse upon hearing that. She silently followed Frankie into the nearby building where the students played learning games, and into Frankie's office, where she sat in an uncomfortable wooden chair. She waited patiently for Frankie to speak.

"Well... you see... Maddy..." said Frankie, "you're... in a different class."

"But I wasn't in any of the classes on the board," said Maddy. "Aren't those all of the classes?"

"No," said Frankie. "There's one we always leave out." He scratched the back of his neck, unsure how to tell the poor girl about her placement. "You're in the... special needs class."

"Special needs?" said Maddy. "What kinds of special needs? Is it because I can't read?"

"Only partly," said Frankie. "From the start you've been different, and I'm sure you've noticed it yourself. So the school board has decided that you need to be in a class where you will get more individual help and attention. It seems you can't be taught the same as the others."

"I'm not smart, then," said Maddy.

"No, no," said Frankie. "You're actually quite intelligent, I believe. Just... different. I think this placement is for the best. You might feel more comfortable in the special needs class."

"But what if I don't?" said Maddy.

"Then you can speak to me about it, and we'll decide what to do then," said Frankie. "But don't worry about it. I think it's the right choice, for now."

Maddy stared sadly down at her sneakers. "Okay."


End file.
